Black Veil Brides is an American
heavy metal band based out of
Hollywood,
California. The group is composed of
Andy Biersack
(lead vocals), Ashley Purdy (bass, backing vocals), Jake Pitts (lead
guitar), Jinxx (rhythm guitar, violin), and Christian "CC" Coma (drums).
Black Veil Brides are known for their distinct appearance, mainly being
inspired by
Kiss' and
Mötley Crüe's stage persona as well as numerous other 1980s
glam metal acts.
Early years, record deal and debut album (2006–2010)
Black Veil Brides was founded in 2006 using the name Brides with
members Andy Biersack (lead vocals), Johnny Herold (guitar), and Phil
Cenedella (bass) in
Delhi, Ohio. They were soon contacted via
MySpace by Nate Shipp (guitar) and Chris Riesenberg (drums). They started gaining recognition for the song "
Knives and Pens". The music video has gained over 32,000,000 views over
YouTube.
In late November 2009, David "Pan" Burton left the group due to
differences in direction and clashes between members. Shortly after his
departure he began the project House of Glass with previous Black Veil
Brides guitarist, Chris "Hollywood" Bluser. Demos were posted on
Myspace, with lyrics written by Biersack. Black Veil Brides responded,
saying that the demos were from their upcoming debut album and that Pan
had recorded his vocals over them. Pan claimed he'd written the songs
before joining the band and that these demos were the way the songs were
originally intended to be. Due to these demos being released before
We Stitch These Wounds,
the band changed the titles of the songs "Funeral in Flames" to
"Beautiful Remains" and "Alive and Burning" to "All Your Hate". However,
"Sweet Blasphemy" remained the same.
In September 2009, using the current name, Black Veil Brides signed with the independent label
StandBy Records.
The writing process for a tour and a record began immediately. In
December 2009, the band embarked on their first US tour entitled "On
Leather Wings".
The group's debut album
We Stitch These Wounds was released July 13, 2010 and sold over 10,000 copies in its first week, ranking at #36 on the
Billboard Top 200 chart, and #1 on the
Billboard Independent chart.
In late 2010, Black Veil Brides went on tour with bands
The Birthday Massacre,
Dommin and
Aural Vampire.
Black Veil Brides first came to the attention of Lava Records president
Jason Flom when the chief music officer at
Hot Topic,
John Kirkpatrick, told him about the incredible buzz that building
around the band, with their t-shirt attracting the second biggest sales
in the country at that point.
What was even more impressive was that they had built their fanatical following in a "
DIY" fashion, such as in making their own self-funded videos
.
When Flom then heard their music and met the group, he decided that
they were exactly what he'd been looking for, later commenting to
HitQuarters:
"They are bringing back what has been missing for over a decade: they
are rock heroes that are truly larger than life. The make-up, the hair,
the leather, and most importantly they have great songs, great playing
…"
Flom then made a deal with Neil Sheehan, founder of StandBy Records, to sign the band over to Lava.
Future events and Set the World on Fire (2011–onward)
Black Veil Brides supported the
Murderdolls in the "God Save The Scream Tour" 2011 and also toured America on the AP Tour from March 18 to May 6. The band will continue on to the Vans Warped Tour, beginning June 24, 2011 and ending August 14 of the same year.
It has also been released that the band will be performing at festivals such as the
Download Festival in the UK and
Bamboozle.
On April 20, it was revealed the band had won the Revolver Magazine's
Golden Gods Award for Best New Artist, Kerrang! UK Rock Magazine Best
Newcomers, and were nominated for Kerrang! Best International Newcomer.
The band's second studio album,
Set the World on Fire was released on June 14, 2011 by
Lava Music/
Universal Republic Records. The cover art was released in April. The title track from
Set the World on Fire was planned for use in the movie
Scream 4. At the news of the song not being used the band released a statement and an extended song preview.
It was later announced on May 23 that the song will be featured in the
Transformers: Dark of the Moon movie.
A clip of the album's lead single, "
Fallen Angels", was released in late April.
It was then fully released in the UK on May 1. The US release was pushed from May 3
to May 10 to be given for free with the pre-order of
Set the World on Fire on
iTunes. As a result of "
Fallen Angels" being delayed a preview of the song "Youth and Whisky" was released on May 3. The album's next single was
Legacy with a music video filmed by Patrick Fogarty, and Premiered on
YouTube on June 6, 2011. The band played at the
Rock am Ring festival at the
Nürburgring motorsport complex in
Nürburg,
Germany in June 2011.
Their 3rd single from
Set the World on Fire was
Rebel Love Song,
which also had a music video directed by Patrick Fogarty. It was
released on youtube October 19th. On October 25th, the band announced
that they had to cancel tour dates for "Certain Reasons". It was later
announced that it was because Andy Biersack had hit the drum set rising
platform during a performance and broke his nose. Despite the injury, he
was determined to finish the show, though people noticing him having
difficulty breathing and talking. After a visit from the doctor, he was
told to sit back for a few weeks to rest and heal. They announced that
they would return to tour for the beginning of the
Buried Alive Tour with
Avenged Sevenfold,
Asking Alexandria, and
Hollywood Undead.
It was also announced via Andy's twitter that they will be releasing an
EP entitled "Rebels". They released a trailer for it on YouTube which
shows Andy recording vocals for their cover of "
Rebel Yell" by
Billy Idol.
Rebels
will be released on Christmas. Another trailer for the EP was released
which Andy gives a little bit more details about it. And the final
trailer about the EP was release on Nov. 14 getting in to detail about
the track (Coffin) left over from their previous album.
Regarding the band's next album, Jinxx and Jake told Chris Droney in
an interview for Glasswerk National that the band are constantly writing
new music, and are planning on recording their next major LP in April
2012. There was also a tease of a guest guitarist appearing on the
album, though no name was mentioned as of October 31st, 2011. On February 18, Jake Pitts tweeted, "Amazing stuff. This next record is
going to kick your arses," implying a third album is under production.
In a February 2012 interview, Ashley Purdy announced that the band's
third studio album is scheduled to be released at the end of 2012